Empirical Law and Finance

Prerequisite: There are no prerequisites for this course. Some background in economics, finance, or empirical methods will be helpful, but no technical knowledge in these areas will be necessary. Students who have questions regarding whether the course would be suitable for them should feel free to contact the instructors.

Exam Type: No Exam There will be no exam. Instead, students will be asked to submit, before most sessions, a brief memo on the research to be discussed in the session, and grades will be based primarily on these memos.

Empirical tools have been increasingly used in litigation, regulation, and policymaking in corporate law, corporate governance, and securities regulation and litigation. This course will aim to expose students to, and enable them to engage with, empirical work in these fields. To this end, at most of the meetings, professors from law schools and business schools will present and discuss their empirical research with the students.

Students who wish to do so may choose to do an additional one- or two-credit independent research project in conjunction with the course.

Note: The course will meet on the following dates: 9/5, 9/12, 9/26, 10/3, 10/31, 11/14